Delayed Reaction: Catfish

The Pitch: What if the person you are talking to on the internet isn't who you think they are?

Catfish is bigger than the 2010 documentary. I'm fairy certain that most people who use "catfish" to mean pretending to be someone else on the internet aren't even aware of the documentary. That's an interesting phenomenon that happens. Normally, it's a soundtrack that takes off or a funny clip that becomes a meme. With Catfish, it's a phrase.

One thing I want to make immediately clear is that all those people who sold this as some sort of a big twist must've been watching a different movie. Sure, the extent to which the woman was lying about who she was was greater than I expected, but the film is suspicious of this from the very beginning. Nev's fooled for a little while, but the audience isn't meant to be. I'm also not sure where all the talk of it being a hoax is coming from. Clearly, as storytellers, they were playing up certain elements, but this all seemed pretty straightforward.

Really, it would've been nice to go into this movie blind. Instead, I had way too much noise floating around in my head the whole time. It's an interesting film. It's well made and put together. If anything, it's a "horror or manners", if that's a thing. It's about knowing exactly what's happening but slowing it down and milking each moment as this woman tries to pretend that she hasn't been caught in a lie. In a way, it makes perfect sense that the directors went on to make Paranormal Activity sequels.

Verdict (?): Weakly Recommend